Tag Archive for 'Supermassive black hole'

The massive black hole shown at left in this drawing is able to rapidly grow as intense radiation from a galaxy nearby shuts down star formation in its host galaxy. Image credit: John Wise, Georgia Tech.

How Universe’s First Supermassive Black Holes Were Born

Mar 13, 2017 by News Staff

An international team of astrophysicists from the United States, Ireland and Finland has come up with the formula for the formation of the first supermassive...

Artist impression illustrating a supermassive black hole with X-ray emission emanating from its inner region (pink) and ultra-fast winds streaming from the surrounding disk (purple). Image credit: ESA.

XMM-Newton, NuSTAR Telescopes Measure Temperature Swings of Black Hole Winds

Mar 2, 2017 by News Staff

For the first time, researchers have measured rapidly varying temperatures in hot gas flowing from the vicinity of a black hole. Artist impression illustrating...

This artist’s illustration depicts what astronomers call a tidal disruption event. Image credit: NASA / CXC / M. Weiss.

Tidal Disruption Events Occur More Frequently than Thought

Feb 28, 2017 by News Staff

According to a team of astronomers at the University of Sheffield, UK, stars are ripped apart by supermassive black holes 100 times more often than previously...

Composite image showing how powerful radio jets from the supermassive black hole at the center of a galaxy in the Phoenix Cluster inflated huge ‘bubbles’ in the hot, ionized gas surrounding the galaxy (the cavities inside the blue region imaged by NASA's Chandra X-ray observatory). Hugging the outside of these bubbles, ALMA discovered an unexpected trove of cold gas, the fuel for star formation (red). The background image is from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. Image credit: ALMA / ESO / NAOJ / NRAO / NASA / ESA / Hubble / CXC / MIT / H. Russell et al / M. McDonald et al / B. Saxton.

Powerful Black Hole at Heart of Phoenix Cluster’s Central Galaxy Surprises Astronomers

Feb 15, 2017 by News Staff

A University of Cambridge-led team of astronomers has discovered a surprising connection between a supermassive black hole and the giant galaxy where it...

In the heart of an active galaxy, matter falling toward a supermassive black hole creates jets of particles traveling near the speed of light. For active galaxies classified as blazars, one of these jets beams almost directly toward Earth. Image credit: NASA / Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab.

NASA’s Fermi Spacecraft Finds Five High Redshift Blazars

Feb 1, 2017 by News Staff

NASA’s Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope has spotted the five most distant gamma-ray blazars — a type of galaxy whose intense emissions are powered...

This composite image shows IC 3639, a galaxy with an active galactic nucleus. Image credit: ESO / NASA / JPL-Caltech / STScI.

NuSTAR Finds Two Enormous Black Holes in Milky Way’s Neighborhood

Jan 17, 2017 by News Staff

NASA’s Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) mission has identified two gas-enshrouded supermassive black holes, located at the centers of nearby...

This image shows the megamaser galaxy LEDA 58817, which lies in the constellation Ophiuchus, about 370 million light-years away. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / Judy Schmidt, www.geckzilla.com.

Hubble Spots Cosmic Megamaser

Dec 26, 2016 by News Staff

NASA has released a stunning image snapped by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope of the megamaser galaxy LEDA 58817. This image shows the megamaser galaxy...

This artist’s impression depicts a Kerr (rapidly spinning) black hole, surrounded by an accretion disc: this thin disc of rotating material consists of the leftovers of a Sun-like star which was ripped apart by the tidal forces of the black hole; shocks in the colliding debris as well as heat generated in accretion led to a burst of light, resembling a supernova explosion. Image credit: ESO / ESA / Hubble / M. Kornmesser.

Kerr Black Hole Eating Sun-like Star Explains Superluminous Explosion ASASSN-15lh

Dec 12, 2016 by News Staff

ASASSN-15lh, an extremely bright explosion in a massive galaxy 3.82 billion light-years away, was thought to be the most luminous supernova ever seen....

Left: this deep Hubble image of the galaxy cluster ZwCl 1715.5+4229 (also known as ZwCl 8193) shows the full extent of the giant galaxy 2MASX 17171926+4226571 and some of its gravitationally lensed background galaxies. The white ‘X’ marks the VLBA radio position, the white ‘+’ marks the Hubble optical position of the giant galaxy’s core, and the white box bounds the zoomed image at right. Right: this shallower zoomed Hubble image of the galaxy cluster reveals the core of the giant galaxy, the smaller galaxy, several cluster galaxies, and extended interaction debris. The Hubble position of the giant galaxy’s core is marked by the white ‘+,’ and optical identification of B3 1715+425 is enclosed by a white circle centered on its Hubble position. Image credit: J.J. Condon et al / NASA / ESA / Hubble / NSF / VLBA.

Astronomers Find ‘Nearly Naked’ Supermassive Black Hole Two Billion Light-Years Away

Nov 3, 2016 by News Staff

A team of scientists led by National Radio Astronomy Observatory astronomer James Condon has found the shredded remains of a small galaxy that passed through...

This image shows a bright gaseous halo around the quasar Q0042-2627. Image credit: Elena Borisova et al.

Astronomers Find Giant Gaseous Halos around Distant Quasars

Oct 26, 2016 by News Staff

A group of astronomers led by ETH Zurich scientist Elena Borisova has spotted giant clouds of glowing intergalactic gas around distant quasars. This image...

This Hubble image shows the lenticular galaxy GJ1417+52. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble.

Astronomers Find Wandering Black Hole in Galaxy 4.5 Billion Light-Years Away

Oct 7, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

A rogue black hole has been found in the outer regions of the lenticular galaxy SDSS J141711.07+522540.8 (GJ1417+52 for short). Evidence suggests this...

This Hubble image shows the barred spiral galaxy Messier 77; the streaks of red and blue in the image highlight pockets of star formation along the pinwheeling arms, with dark dust lanes stretching across the galaxy’s starry center; the galaxy belongs to a class of galaxies known as Seyfert galaxies, which have highly ionized gas surrounding an intensely active center. Image credit: NASA / ESA / A. van der Hoeven.

ALMA Finds Cosmic Fountain at Center of Messier 77

Sep 20, 2016 by News Staff

This Hubble image shows the barred spiral galaxy Messier 77; the streaks of red and blue in the image highlight pockets of star formation along the pinwheeling...

This image from ESO’s Very Large Telescope shows Markarian 1018, a galaxy located approximately 607 million light-years away. The faint loops of light around the galaxy are a result of its interaction and merger with another galaxy in the recent past. Image credit: CARS Survey / ESO.

Black Hole Duo Returns Active Galaxy Markarian 1018 to the Shadows

Sep 15, 2016 by News Staff

Astronomers using ESO’s Very Large Telescope and NASA’s Chandra and Hubble space telescopes have solved the mystery of a rare change in the behavior...

This image snapped by Hubble’s ACS instrument shows PGC 83677, a lenticular galaxy located 300 million light-years away in the constellation of Coma Berenices. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / Judy Schmidt, www.geckzilla.com.

Hubble Captures Image of Little-Known Lenticular Galaxy

Sep 12, 2016 by News Staff

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has captured this vivid image of lenticular galaxy PGC 83677. This image snapped by Hubble’s ACS instrument shows...

This artist’s impression shows our Milky Way Galaxy as it may have appeared 6 million years ago during a phase of quasar-like activity. Outside of that bubble, a pervasive ‘fog’ of million-degree gas might account for the galaxy’s missing matter of 130 billion solar masses. Image credit: Mark A. Garlick / CfA.

Milky Way Galaxy Underwent Brief Period of Quasar-Like Activity 6 Million Years Ago

Aug 30, 2016 by News Staff

Milky Way’s center is currently a quiet place. But it wasn’t always this way – a new study published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters (arXiv.org...

Blazars are the most common sources detected by NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. As matter falls toward the supermassive black hole at the galaxy’s center, some of it is accelerated outward at nearly the speed of light along jets pointed in opposite directions. When one of the jets happens to be aimed in the direction of Earth, as illustrated here, the galaxy appears especially bright and is classified as a blazar. Image credit: M. Weiss / CfA.

NASA Space Telescopes Reveal Unexpected Blazar Connection

Aug 24, 2016 by News Staff

Astronomers studying black-hole-powered galaxies called blazars have uncovered a surprising link between two very different wavelengths of the light these...

This is an infographic explaining the fact that 10 trillionths of your suntan comes from beyond our Milky Way Galaxy. Image credit: Dan Hutton / ICRAR.

Extragalactic Light is Contributing to Your Suntan, Astronomers Say

Aug 17, 2016 by News Staff

Ten trillionths of your suntan comes from beyond our Milky Way Galaxy, according to a team of astronomers led by Prof. Simon Driver from the University...

Abell 2597 BCG. Image credit: NRAO / AUI / NSF / Dana Berry / SkyWorks / ALMA / ESO / NAOJ.

Astronomers Observe Feeding Habits of Active Black Hole

Jun 8, 2016 by News Staff

Astronomers have witnessed a cosmic weather event that has never been seen before — a cluster of giant gas clouds raining in on the supermassive...

An artist’s impression of the disc of material around Sagittarius A*. Image credit: L. Calçada / ESO.

New Computer Algorithm Could Produce First Black Hole Images

Jun 7, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

An MIT-led team of scientists has developed a new algorithm – named the CHIRP (Continuous High-resolution Image Reconstruction using Patch priors) —...

An artist’s rendition of the Akira (right) and Tetsuo (left) galaxies in action. Akira’s gravity pulls Tetsuo’s gas into its central supermassive black hole, fueling winds that have the power to heat Akira’s gas. Because of the action of the black hole winds, Tetsuo’s donated gas is rendered inert, preventing a new cycle of star formation in the Akira galaxy. Image credit: Kavli IPMU.

Intense Winds from Supermassive Black Holes Keep ‘Red Geyser’ Galaxies Turned Off

May 26, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

Astronomers have uncovered a new type of galaxies, dubbed ‘red geysers,’ with supermassive black hole winds so intense and hot that stars can’t form. An...

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